Massachusetts Represents Huge Solar Energy Opportunity

[jpak]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061120/sfm061.html?.v=73

BOSTON, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Massachusetts represents one of the U.S.'s best locations for making solar energy an economic success, according to a recently released study by the Topline Strategy Group, a leading technology consulting and market intelligence firm. According to Jonathan Klein, founder and general partner, a modest state subsidy program for funding solar installations would enable Massachusetts to become a leader an industry poised for explosive growth in the next 25 years.

The study turns upside down the conventional wisdom of solar power being most attractive in southern, sun-belt states. The economics of solar power are based on a combination of geographic latitude, cloud cover levels, and electricity prices. However, state subsidies of 26 to 69 percent are still required to encourage consumer adoption of the technology by making the cost of adopting solar power competitive with the costs that consumers pay to traditional power utilities for their electricity. California currently is the most economical place in the United States for solar power, where state subsidies of 26.4-percent are required to make it cost effective. Massachusetts' high electricity rates and favorable amount of direct sunlight would require only a 26.8-percent subsidy, making the state the next most attractive area for solar power.

The Solar Energy Industry Association projects solar energy installations to grow from a capacity to generate 650 million kilowatt-hours of electricity to 380 billion kilowatt-hours in the next 25 years -- a 58,000-percent increase "Massachusetts has a real opportunity to establish a leadership position in this hypergrowth industry, attracting significant investment and creating thousands of new jobs," said Klein. "The area is already a leader in solar research and has a strong investor base. The only missing ingredient is a subsidy program."

"Massachusetts is well positioned to lead the increasingly important alternative energy and clean tech industry," said Jim Matheson, general partner at Flagship Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts that focuses on creating and financing early stage companies in technology and life sciences. "To realize this potential, it is critical that the Massachusetts business and technology communities work closely with government leadership to design and implement programs that support alternative energy and clean tech start-ups, and to provide meaningful incentives for businesses and consumers to adopt these technologies."

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[MADem]

1. What also helps MA is that we are about to toss our Prince of Darkness over the side

Mitt the Shitt "Big Love" Romney is soon to never darken our guest towels again, the baaaaaastid.

He can take his carpetbag and get his pointed little ass back to Utah.

The guy is a mean, nasty person and crazy as a bedbug....maybe he was brainwashed*** like his daddy (who was way smarter than Mitt will ever be...!)

***History lesson, here: ...Reporters pressed Romney repeatedly to explain his ever-evolving and often confusing position on military involvement in Vietnam, which he had strongly supported after a visit to South Vietnam in 1965 but later declared a tragic mistake. Polls showed his lead fading.

So, during that August interview, when he was asked to explain his inconsistent position on the war, Romney replied, "Well, you know, when I came back from Vietnam, I had just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get."

There, he said it. One word, brainwashing, and his presidential campaign would never recover. Worse, that one politically charged word became not just the shorthand for his aborted White House run, but the bumper sticker for his entire life's work. Forget the poor boy who rose, Horatio Alger-style, to national acclaim. Forget the visionary of Detroit, who successfully championed the compact car over what he termed "gas-guzzling dinosaurs." Forget the straight-talking politician who steered Michigan government from financial ruin and pushed through a new state constitution. In the four decades since that interview, there has been a Pavlovian response to the American political trivia question, "Who was George Romney?" Answer: The brainwashed guy.

There's no taking it back.... http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2006/08/13/the_lessons_of_the_father/

Video footage at link above, as well.

[Ellis Wyatt]

2. windfarm?

Didn't they also have that giant windfarm planned? Last I heard, some super rich folk were against it because they could see it from their houses?

Granted, that was a couple years ago, but is it still moving forward?

[jpak]

3. Cape Wind is still on track - and the NIMBY's are on the run...

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/coast-guard-bill-passes-cape

http://www.devalpatrick.com/issues_environment.cfm

http://www.capewind.org/news722.htm